To assist the master villains, Loki engineers a jailbreak at the holding facility the Vault. The lesser villains are then directed against heroes (mainly the Avengers) who have never fought them before, the theory being that the unfamiliarity will act in the villains' favor.

The plan eventually fails as the master villains fail to cooperate and bicker with each other and their pawns are defeated by the heroes. A frustrated Loki reveals himself and imprisons the Red Skull, Mandarin and Wizard, while the Kingpin escapes and Doom is revealed to have been using a Doombot (Magneto is not present). The Avengers track the group and defeat the villains, with Thor forcing Loki to flee back to their native home of Asgard.[15]